Department of Energy

DOE Offices are encouraged to be inclusive in providing potentially interested parties with opportunities to review NEPA documents. This Directory of Potential Stakeholders for DOE Actions under NEPA is primarily intended to supplement lists that Departmental Offices compile for individual projects or facilities. It complements the EIS Distribution Guidance. The Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance updates this Directory annually in July and may issue revisions throughout the year as new information becomes available.

Declaring that “Compliance with [NEPA] is a pre-requisite to successful implementation of DOE programs and projects,” the Secretary has signed a memorandum on "Improved Decision Making through the Integration of Program and Project Management with National Environmental Policy Act Compliance." The memo urges better use of existing tools and guidance, and highlights principles for strengthening NEPA compliance – for example, through Field and Headquarters teamwork, realistic schedules, and performance accountability.

To further transparency and openness in its implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Department of Energy (DOE) has established a policy requiring each Program and Field Office to document and post online all categorical exclusion determinations involving classes of actions listed in Appendix B to Subpart D of the Department’s NEPA regulations, 10 CFR Part 1021. The Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance, in consultation with the Office of the Assistant General Counsel for Environment, has prepared implementation guidance to facilitate Departmental compliance with the policy.

Under the new policy, each Program and Field Office (including the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Power Marketing Administrations) will document and post online all categorical exclusion determinations involving classes of actions listed in Appendix B of the Department's NEPA implementing procedures, 10 C.F.R. Part 1021.

The Electronic DOE NEPA document archive is the only centralized electronic collection of DOE NEPA documents. To ensure the accuracy and completeness of the collection, we have revised the procedures for submitting documents for publication as required by DOE Order 451.1B.

In response to Executive Order 12898, DOE prepared and issued its Environmental Justice Strategy in 1995. Since then, the agency has conducted a series of activities to implement the Strategy. Both the Executive Order and the Strategy require that DOE establish and maintain an integrated approach for identifying, tracking, and monitoring environmental justice across the Department.

This DOE guidance presents a series of recommendations related to the EIS distribution process, which includes creating and updating a distribution list, distributing an EIS, and filing an EIS with the EPA.

The articles in this collection, organized by topic, contain procedural interpretations and recommendations developed by the DOE Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance in consultation with the Office of General Counsel, the DOE NEPA Community, and others. The mini-guidance articles were developed to address problems identified in the course of preparing, reviewing, and issuing NEPA documents.

DOE has prepared this guidance regarding Supplement Analyses.The guidance discusses decisions regarding whether to prepare a Supplement Analysis (SA), the substantive content of the analysis, procedural aspects of preparing an SA, and the outcomes that can result.

This is a statement by DOE's Assistant Secretary for Environment, Safety, and Health regarding ways to use the NEPA process to help accomplish the Department's mission, consistent with environmental goals.

This second edition of the "Green Book" was issued by DOE to assist preparers and reviewers of NEPA documents, with the goal of promoting clarity, accuracy, and consistency in preparing EAs and EISs to better support decisionmaking.

This DOE guidance presents a series of recommendations to lead those involved in the preparation and review of a final EIS. The guidance addresses both the substance and the mechanics of the comment-response process and provides advice on tracking and categorizing comments, considering comments and preparing responses, and presenting responses and corresponding changes in a final EIS.

Guidance to assist DOE programs in meeting the Annual NEPA Planning Summary reporting requirements, to promote continuous improvement of the summaries as a tool to facilitate field and headquarters compliance with NEPA, and to provide senior DOE managers with information to support key decisionmaking and policy development.

DOE guidance to provide assistance in determining whether an action within the scope of an EIS may be taken before a record of decision is issued. The guidance reviews applicable requirements, gives examples of the types of actions that may proceed as interim actions, describes case studies, and outlines the steps in the EIS process for interim actions.

The Brief Guide provides information on the six new indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (task order) contracts that the NNSA Service Center, on behalf of the Department, issued in late 2002 to provide support services for NEPA document preparation and related environmental tasks. Any Program or Field Office of DOE and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission may use these contracts.

This DOE guidelines sets forth policy and procedures to ensure and maximize the quality, utility, objectivity, and integrity of the information that DOE disseminates to members of the public. DOE has prepared this final report pursuant to OMB government-wide guidelines under section 515 of the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2001.

This DOE guidance clarifies and supplements "Recommendations for the Preparation of Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Statements." It focuses on principles of accident analyses under NEPA.